May 22, 2013

AvalonBay Should Match Social Justice, LEED-Certification for Sustainability of All

To the Editor:

Social and economic justice requires that AvalonBay earn LEED certification for its entire complex: LEED-Gold for neighborhoods. Maximum energy-efficiency is the only ethical solution to a Mount Laurel “inclusionary development” with 20 percent affordable housing. Addressing the needs of Princeton citizens and the demands for sustainability created by climate change meet here: in Princeton, now.

Without LEED-certification, heating and electric bills will be higher than necessary. AvalonBay must not shove those costs onto those least capable of absorbing economic damage. The corporation dare not truly claim its development as an “inherently beneficial use” if it penalizes the very tenants in affordable units with excessive utility charges resulting from inadequate insulation, building design, and construction materials.

AvalonBay’s record in LEED-certification and sustainability has been abysmal. To date, out of 4114 developments nationwide, AvalonBay has built three (3) LEED-certified and three EnergyStar-certified developments (source: AvalonBay 2011 Sustainability Report, page 7), with another 14 certifications possible. The corporation can use Princeton to improve its performance — its profit margin, its investor confidence, and its responsibility to our global ecosystem. AvalonBay’s competitors — e.g., Prologis, KB Homes, Jones Lang Lassalle — have far outstripped it in numerous awards earned from The U.S. Green Building Council and the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. Princeton officials must ensure that “AvalonPrinceton” begin catching up here, by achieving LEED-Gold certification.

AvalonBay’s obligation to earn LEED-Gold involves real people, not “units.” If the developer builds 56 affordable units (as expected), 28 units (50 percent) must be for low-income people/families (suppose a 56-person minimum, at two people per unit). Princeton’s tenants must be protected. AvalonBay rents are already too steep for low- and very-low income families.

Furthermore, Princeton officials negotiating with AvalonBay should insist that the developer set aside 13 percent of the affordable units for tenants with “very low” incomes: 7-8 units. The huge complex will have a population nearly equal to 15 percent of the former Borough. AvalonBay is obliged to mirror and fulfill New Jersey’s housing requirements for all municipalities mandated since July 2008.

AvalonBay’s Jon Vogel is quoted as “contemplating doing this as an EnergyStar certified community, and using designs consistent with LEED for Homes” (Trenton Times, 5/14/13). AvalonBay’s website states, “All Projects [are] evaluated for LEED, Energy Star” (2011 Sustainability Report, page 8) Let’s move beyond “evaluation” and “contemplation.”

Mr. Vogel should understand the equation between energy-efficiency and social justice. At Jonathan Rose Companies he “served as general counsel working on affordable housing solutions and … the Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture, a farm, educational center and restaurant designed to promote sustainable community-based food production …. [He] was previously general counsel for the New York City Housing Partnership, an intermediary in the development of affordable rental and for sale housing” (source: zoominfo.com).

He must persuade corporate leadership to earn LEED-Gold in Princeton. Using LEED or Energy Star only as “guidelines” will result in substandard performance in energy-efficiency.

Princeton’s officials have responsibility for inducing AvalonBay to do the morally right, financially smart thing: match social justice and LEED-certification for the sustainability of all.

Daniel A. Harris

Dodds Lane